"Working with your hands is very much the work of the future" - those were the words of Vice President JD Vance speaking at the launch of Foundry School, a new State Department manufacturing workforce program.
The school, which launched on Thursday, will include 17 sessions taught by manufacturing business founders and CEOs. It is being launched in collaboration with Stanford University, with a programme built by Stanford for American students supplemented by lectures from other universities.
"We believe in making things again, and we're going to give you the tools, and the networking, and the education to do it," Vance explained. The VP said that while kids might have been told in the past that working with their hands was "lesser," and pushed towards being doctors or lawyers, the Foundry is all about creating the workers of the future.
“We have to rebuild our country and we cannot do it without reinvesting in American workers.”
"So much of what is amazing about the Foundry is that it's going to do something specific and discrete. It's going to put really smart kids in the room with other really smart kids," Vance asserted. "We have to rebuild our country and we cannot do it without reinvesting in American workers."
Vance is now 21% to win the Presidential Election in 2028, the most likely option by a long-shot according to Kalshi and Polymarket odds. Marco Rubio, who also made some comments at the launch of The Foundry, is the second-most likely at 12%, tied with Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Vance's lead over Rubio has widened over the course of 2026. It currently sits at around 9%, but at one point last month it reached 12% after President Donald Trump reportedly endorsed Vance for the Presidency. As per the Washington Post, Trump told Republican donors "we need to elect JD."
Trump has at times suggested (although perhaps in jest) that he may run for another term as President. He wore a Trump 2028 hat at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and posted a similar image to his Truth Social account later. As per the 22nd Amendment, a President can not serve more than two terms.